La Vie en Rouge et Noir
by KarotsaMused
Summary: Or, How Soul Learns to Become a Gentleman. Stein disappears and returns with a roommate. Tsubaki starts babysitting. For some reason, everyone wants Soul to know about it. Rated T  for language, and the inside of a teenage boy's brain. Complete!
1. Knowledge

A/N: This is a Soul Eater crossover. It is crossed over with X-Men. This came about because I think it's really rather horribly funny. If you don't have very much knowledge of X-canon, that's absolutely fine. I wrote this because I watched all of the Soul Eater anime and was very disappointed with the ending. Instead of rewriting the ending, however, I took the good bits and played with them some more. This is set slightly post-anime.

Warnings include: End-Of-Anime Spoilers. I forgot Crona existed until too late so he's not here (actually he's one of my favorite characters, oops). Heterosexual urges. Implied homosexual urges. Foul language. Other canon smooshing. Playing fast and loose with the idea of soul resonance for my own ends. Really silly humor. No paragraph indentations. I decided I didn't like them for the first forty pages, and it stuck. Nyah.

A million thanks to Rune for beta, and for doing some of the voices. :D Total wordcount is somewhere above 20K. More chapters forthcoming.

* * *

Soul, in the early morning, stood in front of his bathroom mirror and examined, for the fourth time, a split in his lower lip. It didn't hurt when he pressed against it with his tongue, but careful pressure with two fingers, when he pulled it apart, showed bright pink skin ready to break. He gnawed briefly at the dead skin that was peeling away.

It wasn't working. Maka's voice careened around inside his head like a pinball, lighting up thought centers he didn't want touched. At least, not if he wanted to sleep, and certainly _not by Maka_.

He'd come home that fateful afternoon, worn out but exhilarated from an impromptu game of tackle football, and the myriad complexities that arose when one team called football "soccer" and the other called it "carnage". He felt a bruise somewhere on his upper arm, he smelled like mud, he was covered in grass stains, and a lucky flail with Harley's elbow had caught him in the corner of the mouth. He had the feeling Maka was going to chew him out for tracking over the floor, but he'd run into her just sitting in the living room, her knees tucked up with her chin on them. It had looked like she was staring at her toes, daring them to give her answers. Only Maka could interrogate her own feet.

He'd said Hey What's Up, and the look she'd given him had informed him they were as good as famous last words. She wasn't angry, or irritated. She had been _curious_. Curious and a little anticipatory, her eyes lighting up when they landed on him, not even seeing the mud.

She'd said, Have You Heard Yet, and he'd said Heard What, and then she'd told him.

Kid hadn't been able to sleep, having some kind of fit over something being off half a millimeter in his personal library, and had taken to the skies on his board. He'd seen Tsubaki walking the streets by herself, and had, like the gentleman he'd been bred to be, offered to walk her home. She'd agreed.

What they talked about hadn't mattered. What mattered was that Liz and Patty, chasing after him on foot, saw what Kid hadn't. The samurai with the long blond hair, the one who was always on babysitting duty, was watching her leave from the doorway of a small apartment building.

Tsubaki told Kid she'd been helping the samurai guy with the little witch since apparently he was great at fighting but not so good at braiding hair.

Soul had said, Yeah, So?

Maka had chewed her lip and said, Well, Don't You Get It?

Soul remembered the samurai guy. He had a lot of hair, and he always wore it down over his face. But apparently, according to Liz, who'd told Maka, who was telling Soul, it had been braided, pulled back.

Soul didn't get what was so important about a braid until Maka had told him that it was pretty close to certain that Tsubaki and the samurai guy were doing You Know What. After all, the little witch hardly had enough hair to keep her ears warm, let alone braid. Which meant Tsubaki spent a lot of time with her hands in the samurai guy's hair, and You Know what that leads toward.

The problem wasn't that Soul Knew. It was that Soul didn't know how much Maka knew, exactly, or what she thought You Know was, in comparison to his own concept of You Know. And he sure as hell didn't mean to ask, because, meister or not, there were some things he didn't ever feel he _needed_ to know, especially where Maka and You Know were concerned.

The problem with thoughts like that was their relative stickiness in regards to the brain. They clung, while other, slipperier topics, like the weather, or football games, or homework, dropped away. It had been two days since then, and he'd been half-tortured with dreams of You Know, mostly with Maka's narration, and yeah, he'd noticed Tsubaki's gigantic hooters before, but who hadn't? He'd given her a level of respect and professional courtesy from one weapon to another that he thought was pretty commendable, especially when he thought they were a fraction nicer than Blair's.

His lip split open again and he winced. Fucking Harley. Fucking Blair! Fucking You-Know-What!

He realized too late he'd bitten straight through the loose skin around the cut on his lip and made the bleeding worse. He wiped the trail of blood from his chin, and one of those slippery thoughts came slithering back.

He wondered, not for the first time, about the other guy, the one he'd seen the day before. The guy who'd had eyes like his, only different, red as blood and black around the outsides. How he'd been bleeding from the mouth, too, and other places, and...

And he was going to tell Maka about it, he swore to himself, thoughts of You Know or not! It was still hard for him to meet her eyes after the revelation, having never thought before that the concept of any sort of You Know would ever make its way into her brain, crammed as it already was with school and competition. And those pigtails couldn't be good for her tension.

Weapons and meisters needed to be in contact, needed not to hide important things from each other like that. He hadn't seen Stein look so livid, not even after he'd come out of his crazy. He'd never heard the man give him an order like that before. _You weren't here. You didn't see this._

He heard the water in the pipes as the other shower came on and frowned. He wasn't thinking of Maka naked, shiny and gold soul-naked or otherwise. Or Blair. And when he turned the thought over in his head, he realized it was true. He was thinking about how _nosy_ his meister was. How, if he told her, it'd be an issue. A serious, Nancy-Drew Scooby-Doo mystery she'd want to get her fingers in and figure out.

Under any other circumstances, even You Know-based circumstances, he'd go along for the ride. But the bleeding guy, and Stein, that had been heavy shit. It had made his scar hurt, a little, to see how ruined the guy was. Stein had told him to forget it, which he could take as a sign of disrespect, or as a sign of desperation.

First-class meisters went on all kinds of missions Maka didn't know about. And they came back just fine, right? So. So maybe he wouldn't tell her, not yet. Given Stein, for acceptable levels of insane, he'd probably come out with it in class that day. He'd wait. Maybe it was easier to think about You Know than other things. Slipperier thoughts were easier to stumble on.

* * *

The day had not gone well. He'd even had the perfect opening, after Stein's class. Sid had been the substitute, and after, as he and Maka walked through the halls toward lunch, she'd asked, "I wonder where Professor Stein is?"

He could have said, _You know, yesterday I saw this thing..._

He could have said, _I think he's at his lab. Here's why._

He could have said, _I don't._

Before he had the thought to say any of that, Black Star had butted in with... with something. Soul couldn't recall, and it didn't matter, because in that exact moment, as Maka's expression froze into a smile, he'd realized _Black Star had no idea about You Know and Tsubaki_.

He hadn't heard the rest of the conversation, his mind racing behind his eyes. What would he do if his partner did You Know with - with - he couldn't even think about it! Was it the betrayal, or the weirdness? He thought he'd more or less be fine, but the only real You Know-type relationship he knew about as involved weapons and meisters involved... a weapon, and his meister! Maka's parents! That was all the You Know he knew! And, as far as he knew, he didn't have the slightest inclination toward You Know with his meister. There were weird power issues there, he knew, and she was so annoying, and flat-chested and-

And his brain kept coming up with all of these other things, the way she trusted him and believed in him and was loyal to him, and how she had this little freckle on the back of her left thigh that nobody else could see but him, because he only got a glimpse when she was wielding him-

No! No. He ran his hands through his hair, got two good handfuls, and tugged. The point was, he hadn't told her. It was that slippery thing again, like he could barely hold on to the thought. Like his brain didn't want to keep it because it ached. It was easier to think about that freckle, easier to be distracted even when he was frustrated by it.

He didn't notice Blair in his lap until she used her claws to demand affection. He kept his hands on his head as he yelped.

"Damn it, Blair!"

She pouted at him. "Love me."

"No. Can't you see I'm busy? I've got homework."

She pouted harder. "So-oul. I'm lonely! The stupid Mizunes got ahold of my fish shop guy and all he wants us to do is fight now. Love me."

Soul gritted his teeth, resolutely Not Thinking about why a cat witch and mice witches were good for a show. "You can hang out, but get off my lap."

She huffed. Then hopped up onto his homework, curled up, and started to purr, her tailtip twitching. Soul growled, she ignored him, and he got up. At her indignant squawk, he grabbed his coat off the doorknob and said, "I'm going on a walk."

She said, "Kay!", as he knew she would, and followed.

The cold air helped, really, that and the consistency of the cobblestones beneath his feet. It felt like his body knew where it was again, and it settled his head, even with Blair toddling along the nearest fences beside him. The night smelled like cooling stone, the dirt from a day's work, the odd cigarette. He felt more grounded in the cold, and his head lifted a little. He didn't think about Maka, or Stein, or blood, or-

He heard Tsubaki laughing like he'd never heard before. It was definitely her, but it was the kind of helpless giggle that made her sound younger. And kind of older at once. He stopped, looking for her, saw a light in a doorway nearby and slipped into an alley. Instantly Blair was beside him, peering around the corner of the building.

"What're we lookin' at?" she asked.

"Sh!" said Soul, and strained to hear it.

Tsubaki said, "No, really, it wasn't any trouble at all! I hope you didn't mind my singing."

The voice that responded had to be the samurai guy. Soul recognized it. "No, of course not. It was lovely."

"Please, that's a little embarrassing." She laughed again, her voice softer. Soul missed most of the rest, except for "Black Star" and "nice time". And "Mifune", which had to be the samurai guy's name. That sounded right.

Mifune said something even more softly, and Soul almost made it out when Blair said, "Well, hot damn! He's a cutie. But isn't he from your little school?" and sent him jumping nearly out of his skin.

By the time he'd managed not to shout, "God dammit, shut up!" and had instead managed a strangled and inarticulate shushing noise, the door was closing and Tsubaki was turning away from it, which sent Soul even deeper into the alley. Eavesdropping was shameful at best, and he had no fucking intention of getting caught.

Blair, however, had other plans. She trotted right out of the alley and came up to Tsubaki. Soul could hear them talking, and Blair laughing, and... no mention of his name whatsoever.

He'd have to put a little extra tuna in her bowl, maybe.

As Blair and Tsubaki passed the alleyway, Blair didn't even glance in.

Make that a lot of extra tuna.

When he asked her, later, what she was doing on his chest in his bed and could she leave please, she told him, "Don't worry about it, Soul-baby. It's a girl thing. I wouldn't let you in on it even if you wanted me to."

His third sleepless night began as soon as he kicked Blair out of his room, and heard her laughter echo down the hall.

* * *

The second day of Substitute-Teacher-Sid passed, and Soul could tell Maka was getting antsy. The last big string of absences Stein had taken involved Medusa, and neither he nor Maka were content to accept the Everything's-Fine answer from their teachers anymore.

Maka even took pains to walk home beside him, her hands curled into loose fists. "What do you think's going on with Professor Stein?" she asked him, her voice quiet.

He shrugged. "Can't say." It wasn't really a lie. But then again, he didn't know what she knew, and he knew she'd tell him sooner or later.

He watched her for a half-second longer than usual, then turned his head back to the road before them. Death City in the warm afternoon. There were still some pockets of wreckage, some craters in the streets. The battle with Arachnophobia and the kishin had left scars on the landscape. Some of the more sensitive trees within Death City were adjusting poorly to their new climate, and though it was spring, dead leaves crunched under their feet.

Maka said, "I asked Miss Marie about it. She wouldn't tell me anything." Her jaw was tight as she muttered, "She just told me it was going to be okay."

"So? Maybe it is. She still lives with him, and they're friends." He paused, debating between two Bad Things To Say To Maka, and picked the lesser. "Have you asked your dad?"

"What? No!"

Soul sighed. "He's a deadbeat, yeah, but he's kinda weird where Professor Stein's concerned. He was his first meister."

Had Maka been a cat, Soul would have seen her bristled fur start to come down. The mental image was amusing enough, especially when he recognized the signs of her coming around to the idea. She said, "Huh."

Soul hummed. "And hey, it's my night to cook, right? So you can find him, grill him, and be back before dinner."

To his relief, Maka snorted. But his heart sank as she spoke. "Yeah-huh. If not, I think we'd better hit the source. Tonight."

So much for diffusing Nancy Drew Albarn, he thought. But as he watched her jog away, he admitted his own curiosity to himself. If anybody could uncover it, Maka would get down to the truth.

* * *

Maka had to be Velma, he thought. Which didn't work at all, because that made Tsubaki Daphne. Sure, she was more beautiful, but he knew Black Star sure as hell wasn't Freddy. Maybe Black Star was Scooby.

As they walked down the path to Stein's laboratory just after dusk, Soul decided he was the celebrity guest star, because he wasn't Freddy either. Freddy just seemed like a douche. Totally not cool.

Then again, he had to feel like Maka was a little uncool for blabbing to Tsubaki and Black Star about their plans. Sure, a girl was allowed to vent about her good-for-nothing father, but Black Star was a total stealth-killer and did not need to be reminded about Stein's absences. He knew Tsubaki had made note of it already, and that was fine enough, but he couldn't help but think that Maka complained to him enough about her father and didn't need to lay it on other unsuspecting civilians as well.

The little father-daughter chat had turned over absolutely zilch, except the bit where Deathscythe had turned about three colors and clammed up so fast Maka swore to Soul afterward she heard his jaw clack. Deathscythe being weird about Stein was an understatement, but this shade of weird was more extreme than usual, and had only served to convince her that something Needed Investigation.

As they crouched behind the bushes at the far wall of Stein's property, Soul felt more idiotic than ever. Sure they were worried about him, but why all the secrecy? Tsubaki and Black Star had to practice their ninja-ing, yeah, but he and Maka had a more bust-in-and-kick-ass style he didn't like to amend.

Maka said, "Okay, now, Soul and I will take the front-" which he liked, "-and Black Star, you'll- Black Star? Oh, no."

Black Star's battle cry of "Yeah-hoo!" confirmed their fears.

The first explosion was a smaller one, smoke billowing from a window on the first floor of the laboratory. With the glass blown out, though, Soul could see a blue glow, and then flame, and then _more_ smoke. Tsubaki gasped and leapt to her feet as yet more explosions followed. They heard Black Star shouting, and then Maka was chasing after Tsubaki at a dead run, but Soul was caught by the vision that burst forth from the front door.

Stein was in a white t-shirt, customary stitching woven through it. Loose, black pants, bare feet, his glasses missing, his hair a mess of tangles and spikes. Stein's face was marred by dark, sick circles under his eyes, his expression that same taut, pure anger Soul had seen before.

He was reminded, then, forcibly, of the bloody guy. He'd been in all black, then, his hair long and dirty and loose around his shoulders, dark red. His eyes were redder, like Soul's own, and the jolt of recognition almost made him miss the fact that the whites of the guy's eyes weren't white. They were black. In the instant before the guy had pushed some sunglasses back up his nose, Soul had looked into his eyes and thought, quite clearly, _holy shit_.

He'd been bleeding, dry rusty trails over his face and down his arms, fresher wounds in his lips, his fingernails. He'd been stumbling, had pushed past Soul without touching him, without talking to him, though he'd called out to him to try and figure out what was wrong.

The guy had disappeared and Stein had come not half a minute after, his face hard with worry and anger, terrifying in its calm.

Soul had helped Stein find the guy. Had walked three feet ahead of them, as Stein wrapped the guy's arm over his shoulders and led him, limping, back to his lab. Soul hadn't asked questions. He'd cleared the way for them, hadn't looked back, and when they got to the door of the lab, Stein had looked at him and said, _You weren't here. You didn't see this._.

Seeing Stein exit the lab then, as the explosions came from the back of it, as Black Star shouted and Maka and Tsubaki pelted after him, Soul almost forgot what had come after.

Stein had said, _Thank you, Soul. This is going to be a long night._

When Stein set eyes on him, he had the overpowering urge to shout, "I swear I didn't say anything!"

He must have, because Stein stepped past him, didn't touch him, didn't acknowledge him and went to the window that had blown out to extract Black Star from the outside.

Once he'd dragged Black Star through the frame, once he'd gotten the boy by the collar, and held him off the ground, and stared down into his face with the sort of silent fury that stopped even Black Star's explanations, Stein said, very softly, "Get out."

"But-" began Maka, who had been demoted in that instant to Freddy status.

Stein didn't look at her. Didn't look at any of them. His shoulders were shaking, but not with laughter. He lifted his head, dropped Black Star, and said, "Get. Out."

When Maka began to protest again, Stein turned his head. The bags under his eyes and the set to his mouth made Soul almost wish he'd start laughing.

Marie's voice cut through the tense moment as she darted forward, got between them and Professor Stein, her hands up. "Franken. I'll take the children."

Soul didn't see the rest of it, as Miss Marie herded Tsubaki first, then Maka, then Black Star together, and pushed them all outside the walls. Maka, badly shaken, kept saying, "We were just worried! We wanted to see the Professor."

Black Star kept saying, "That was _awesome_! I wish you guys could have seen him! He-"

Marie cut him off. "He is Professor Stein's friend, and he is very ill. It was incredibly rude to trespass! And after I told you, miss Maka-"

"But-!"

"No." Marie's kind face was set in its firmest lines. "You be grateful I don't tell your father about this, much less Lord Death. Breaking and entering on a professor is grounds for suspension!"

Maka withered like a dry weed, and Black Star pumped his fist in the air. "It was crazy! Guys! Guys?"

Soul tuned out the rest, from the set to Maka's mouth that showed she was very near tears, to Black Star's gloating. He knew already what the guy looked like. The explosions meant he was a weapon of some sort, and Stein's reaction meant. Something. Meant that they were friends. Meant he was protecting the guy. Though it looked, given the thrashing Black Star got, as though he could take care of himself.

Zoinks.


	2. Patience

A/N: Hooray, chapter two! I don't know if my writing does him credit, but I'm crazy about Black Star. He and Tsubaki are my favorite weapon/meister pair out of all the kids. I just love them. I thought I should say that, because mostly only the stupid side of Black Star comes out in this fic. So ye-es. Hooray for Black Star!

* * *

They recovered in Soul's living room, all of them arranged on the sofa, close together, Maka practically in Soul's lap, Tsubaki gently perched on the arm. Maka leaned heavily on Soul, something she hardly did, and her weight was almost odd. She scrubbed at her eyes with the heels of her hands.

Tsubaki said, "At least everyone came out of it alright."

"We almost got suspended! And Professor Stein-"

"Enough about Stein! Did you guys get to see me fight that guy? It was amazing! I was so badass!" cried Black Star, punching the air. Tsubaki leaned back far enough to be out of range.

She said, "We didn't see anything through the smoke, Black Star."

"You missed it? No! It was so amazing!"

"Black Star, shut up!" cried Maka, her hands tightly coiled into fists. Soul had to shift as the bony part of her hip dug into his thigh.

Soul put his hand on her shoulder, gently, expecting it to be shrugged away. When it wasn't, he said, "No wait. Black Star, what did he look like?"

"Huh? Oh, well, when I busted in he was just in bed, like a big hospital bed! He's all skinny, and his pants had stitches on them, you know, like Stein's. And he was all bandaged up, and he glowed blue! Like none of him transformed when he fought me, he just threw stuff at me and it exploded after he started going glowy!"

"His eyes, Black Star," said Soul, his jaw tightening even as he felt the weight of Maka's full attention on him.

"Huh? Oh! Yeah! They were black and red! Super weird! I thought for a second he was gonna be blind or something, but-"

"Why do _you_ care about his eyes, Soul?" asked Maka, sounding both impatient and accusing at once. Her hip dug more firmly into his thigh.

Soul looked at her for a moment. He thought, the guy was in Stein's pants? Was the guy, _You Know_, in Stein's pants? He thought, Maka's skin was really warm through his jeans. And it had to be her skin. That freckle was pressed to his leg. He knew it. He thought, this is no time for You Know What.

"I saw him, before," said Soul softly. Before Maka could react, he said, "Four days ago."

Then, he let her squawk. She hopped away from him, their knees knocking together as she turned to face him. "Soul! What?"

He held up a hand, then sighed. And told it from the beginning. He started with the guy slipping past him, and finished with Stein saying that it didn't happen.

When he finished, the expressions on their faces were almost worth it.

Then Maka's expression dissolved into rage, and her shoulders shook. She punched Soul hard enough to give his leg a cramp and cried, "You didn't think to tell us? What if he was a witch! What if he-"

"No way! He's totally a weapon, Maka, you had to see it! I'm seriously going to beat him next time!"

"I thought we were supposed to tell each other things, Soul," spat Maka, drawing further away from him and, by that movement, into Black Star.

"Hey, no, don't worry about it! Black Star's on the scene now," he said, tucking his knees up so Maka wasn't actually crawling over them, "And I'll knock his lights out if he's actually any trouble! I had him on the ropes when Stein got to me!"

Tsubaki, in the ensuing pause, said, "What do you mean by that, Black Star?"

"Just what I said! The guy was about to throw up the white flag in the face of my awesomeness. He was in a little ball on the floor! Like a turtle without a shell. Hah!"

There was a considerably longer pause. Maka actually shifted closer to Soul to get, Soul assumed, further from Black Star.

Tsubaki ventured, "He was terrified? A grown man curled up in a ball?"

"Only prey fight in corners," murmured Soul, ignoring the glare he got from Maka for speaking the truth.

"But that explains Professor Stein's reaction," said Tsubaki, folding her hands over her knees. "If this person is very close to him." She shook her head a little. "If anything happened to Angela, I know Mifune would react the same way."

Soul pointedly ignored Maka's next attempt at eye contact for long enough that she relented, turned back to Tsubaki, and said, "So Black Star scared him-" she paused long enough for Black Star to crow, "-and Stein came out to protect him looking-"

"Like a bat out of hell," supplied Soul.

"Both of you stop helping," muttered Maka, though she'd started to lean on Soul again.

He sighed. "Okay, so the evidence points to the conclusion Miss Marie gave us. He's a friend of Professor Stein's. And he's - not sick, I don't think he's sick. But he's scared."

"What if he'd never transformed before?" asked Tsubaki, looking suddenly severely disquieted. "What if he had no idea he was a weapon?"

Only Soul groaned in understanding.

Maka leapt on it. "So if Professor Stein is the best meister to ever graduate from the DWMA, then he's the perfect candidate to teach a late blooming weapon!"

"And of course it would be pretty embarrassing for a grown man not to know-" "So they were keeping it quiet!" Maka cut him off, nearly back in Soul's lap. She shook her head. "Oh, that's just. That's -"

"Painful," said Tsubaki softly.

Soul nodded. And when Maka looked up at him, he let out a breath. She came to a decision so obvious he could almost read it off of her face.

"Okay. So we do whatever we can. And leave Professor Stein's friend alone until he's not. Scared anymore."

"Yeah, okay. So when do I get to fight him again?" asked Black Star.

Tsubaki pressed her lips together and smiled. "Maybe when Stein can wield him you can ask."

"I'd pay to see that," said Soul, and smiled when he realized he meant it.

* * *

Soul was impressed when even Black Star made it to Monday without mentioning breaking the resolution. There had been an unspoken hope among them that Stein would return after the weekend, but when Sid again stood behind the lectern, the disappointment around them was palpable.

By that point, news had gotten to Kid that his friends were all idiots, as he'd eloquently summarized, and Soul found himself meeting Kid's gaze when class ended.

As they filed out into the hall, they stood in a circle, Maka with her shoulders taut, Black Star vibrating with anticipation.

"Come on! This is ridiculous. He looked okay to me!" cried Black Star.

"Sh! We're not supposed to know about him," hissed Maka.

Soul said, "It'd be stupid to go back and bother them. What if they're in the middle of some seriously in-depth training or something?"

Kid said, "When Professor Stein has started a resonance, it would take more than an interruption to break it."

"And I don't particularly think there's anything we can do to help, is there?" murmured Tsubaki. "If he can't resonate with Stein alone, there's no way we could attempt anything to help."

"Hey, you're my weapon!" Black Star said, his eyebrows drawing together.

"And this is not the time to be having that argument," muttered Liz, to Patty's instant giggles.

Soul resisted the urge to smack his own forehead. The way he heard it, Tsubaki made enough sense. There wasn't a reason to butt in where they'd only make matters worse, and he didn't want to see anyone balled up out of fear.

Maka said, "So when do we go look?"

Knowing _never_ would be an invalid argument, Soul said, "Give it another week. Seven days isn't that much time, especially when we don't know what they're dealing with."

"Yeah, he'll _need_ seven days to prep once he gets the picture! He's gonna go toe-to-toe with Black Star!"

* * *

The week passed. Soul knew it would, but the speed at which it passed was almost startling. Other slippery thoughts, more homework, a dropped plate, a basketball game, more training, slid through his head and filled his days. A healthy dose of You Know What came on Friday night, when Black Star came over alone because Tsubaki was helping Mifune with Angela again.

In the end, he challenged Black Star to a sit-up competition, and though he'd done one to every two Black Star managed within the time limit, his abs still ached. But it was worth it to force Maka to make that noise that translated as, _ugh, boys_, and leave the room. He couldn't take the subtext much longer.

Black Star, thankfully, seemed to have absolutely no clue that the girls around him had convinced themselves Tsubaki was getting a healthy dose of You Know without him. Not that Soul wanted Black Star involved in any kind of You Know, healthy or otherwise. Nor that Soul believed Tsubaki was doing You Know, with Mifune or anyone else. Just that the implication brought the brain of a very healthy teenaged boy back to the possibility of You Know, obviously fictional You Know, but still the kind of You Know Soul ... rather wished he knew about.

Not that he'd tell anybody. The super-cool Soul totally knew. And he was cool and mature enough to know Tsubaki would never push it like that with a teacher, even if Blair went on and on about how hottie-tottie he was. That was about the point he'd shoved her out of the bathroom, but that phrase, hottie-tottie, was certainly more than enough to pass his Sunday and still have some steam left over.

He hadn't built up a good enough head of anticipation for Monday's class, but Maka had it in spades, more than enough to share. Their whole row of seats was tense as the teacher's door opened in the head of the lecture hall.

Stein stepped out into the light, his glasses again in place, the dark circles gone from beneath his eyes. His coat was impeccably clean, and as he sank into his chair he gave everyone a smile.

He started speaking as the door opened again, having never fully closed, to reveal _him_. The man with the red ponytail and the red and black eyes, though they were hidden under the sunglasses. He wore all black, a t-shirt and black jeans, heavy boots, and a leather jacket with zipper pulls made to resemble crosses.

He felt rather than heard Maka gasp, and she hissed under her breath, "That's my _father's_ coat!"

Soul swallowed the rock in his throat. First Stein's pants, then Deathscythe's jacket? Who _was_ this guy? And where were his clothes?

The man sat in the seat on the farthest right in the front of the classroom, silent, his gaze ostensibly on the floor. With the sunglasses it was hard to tell, but Soul didn't feel the man looking at him, though he and Black Star would be the only people he'd recognize.

If Stein noticed their recognition, or the fact that they were bursting with questions, he ignored it. He ignored the man completely, teaching with his usual nonemotive tones, never once glancing back toward him nor acknowledging his presence.

At the end of class, the man left first, Stein following him, blocking him from view.

Soul knew the look Maka was giving him, though. He refused to turn his head to acknowledge it. But then Maka grabbed his hand, giving him a gentle pinch between his thumb and index finger.

"Let's go."

He found himself following, walking quickly as Maka sped down the hallway heel-toe to minimize noise. "Maka. Bugging a sick guy isn't cool," he hissed.

"He's here, now. He's not sick and he probably wasn't in the first place. You said that, remember? We should introduce ourselves and apologize," said Maka, not slowing.

Soul groaned. "Maka-a-"

"And anyway, I overheard Black Star saying he's going to go ask Professor Stein if he'll let his friend fight him yet-"

"So, what, he'll be occupied and we can sneak up on the guy?"

"Geez, Soul, you make everything sound so mean sometimes-oh!"

She pulled up short as a door opened just ahead of them, and Stein stepped out. "Who is sneaking up on whom, Soul?" he asked, and Soul felt again like shrinking.

"Soul? What the hell - hey, I was asking you a question!" cried Black Star, tumbling out after him.

"I heard you," said Stein mildly. "And he is not ready for combat yet. I'll tell you when he is, Black Star, I promise you. On this condition." He held up a hand to stop Black Star's squawking.

"Every day that you ask me if he's ready yet will be another two I wait to give my permission for you to fight him. Is that clear?"

Black Star's nose wrinkled, and he growled. "Hey, that's not-"

"Patience is a trait very important in a ninja," said Stein, starting to smile. Soul, in the small part of his brain that not only found this condition hilarious, but could see the humor in the entire conversation, recognized that smile as the old one, the familiar one without a giggle behind it, and was relieved.

Black Star grumbled, but then said, "Yes, Professor," and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

Maka, putting on her best Precocious Smile, asked, "So, where is your friend, Professor?"

Stein looked over as if seeing her for the first time, raising one eyebrow. "Oh, he's gone outside to have a smoke before the next class. A place I intend to meet him. Until tomorrow, kids," he said, waving, before he stepped back through the door and shut it in their faces.

As Soul looked from Maka to Black Star, to Tsubaki, he huffed out a breath. "That could've gone better," he muttered.

"Did you get to see him?" asked Maka, looking over to Black Star.

"Huh? No. It's like he's some kind of secret guy. I mean, I didn't even get a name for him." Black Star crossed his arms.

Maka frowned. "He has to have a name, right?"

Soul snorted, realized too late it was not the reaction Maka was expecting, then rolled his eyes as she glared at him.

The moment came crashing down as Tsubaki said, "What if he doesn't?"

The ensuing horror shut them all up. As Maka said, "It's. Entirely conceivable," Soul wished, not for the first time, that he hadn't.

* * *

It wasn't until much later, after school, that Maka again caught him up and walked next to him, her shoulders tense, her arms swinging stiffly. "Hey," she said, her voice low.

Soul looked over. Maka had her head down, her eyebrows bunched together, and her frown going full blast. He murmured, "Hey yourself."

"There's something I wanted to tell you. But I didn't want to say it in front of Black Star and Tsubaki," said Maka, and when his silence greeted her, she relaxed a little. "It's about Stein's friend."

"I figured," said Soul, and grinned when she relaxed further, enough to knuckle him in the arm.

"Look, I know you can't see the souls of the living, but... but think of them as like two handfuls' worth of light. A ball you'd have to use both hands to hold if you didn't want to drop it. Maybe softball sized, depending. Yours is like that." She held up her hands, cradling an imaginary ball. "It's bright. Your soul gives off light."

Soul glanced over, his eyebrows raised. "You looked at that guy's soul, didn't you."

She nodded. "Yeah. And his, it's like ping-pong ball-sized. It's so small, and so dim, I could hardly see it." She shook her head. "Except. All I can think of are solar flares. These weird blue - movements. Around it. Like it wants to be bigger than it is."

Soul made a low sound. Maka looked over, defensive. "I know that sounds ridiculous. But. Your soul is like this, this glow. It's constant, and it's reliable, and it's always there. Stein's friend, it's like... like a coal, like an ember. When a fire's going out, and sometimes it throws up sparks. That's what it's like."

"So he's dying?" asked Soul, feeling slightly sick. He hadn't heard Maka describe any of this mess about souls before, and he hardly had time to be indignant about his own being a night-light.

Maka swallowed. "I dunno. But I can tell you this much. During class today? That whole time? He and Professor Stein were resonating."

Soul nearly tripped on a rock in their path. "You're serious?"

"Dead serious," said Maka, then lowered her voice as her choice of words made Soul frown. "The Professor's soul was reaching out to his the whole time. They were always in contact, even when they were across the room from one another. The only time I didn't see them resonating was when Professor Stein said his friend was having a smoke."

Soul felt the ground drop out from under him. "But they weren't even touching! And that guy, he wasn't in weapon form!" There was no way he and Maka were in Stein's league! Okay, so, Maka could pull it off if she was wielding him, and he helped, and it was them and Kid and Black Star and everyone, and they were all together, but- but he was always exhausted after, and he was always deep within himself. Playing.

Maka just looked at him, half-smiled, and said, "Yeah. I know. But I know what I saw."

"You think he's seriously a late bloomer?" murmured Soul, unable to shake the inadequacy as it settled cold in his gut.

"If that's true, Stein's more of a genius than he's been letting on. Even an experienced weapon would need to manifest it somehow. And. And his soul was so dim." She bit her lip. "I want to ask him."

"He's gonna brush you off," said Soul, shaking his head.

Maka put her hands on her hips. "So? I'll ask him anyway. I've figured out what they're doing, and it's only right to give him a fair chance to teach me."

Soul snorted. "You gonna go to his office hours tomorrow?"

Maka grinned back at him. "Uh-huh. You're coming, right?"

"Right."


	3. Communication

A/N: And we finally reveal the X-man, as if you didn't already know. Also, from the moment we met him, Stein was my favorite character. He was way high up there as soon as I saw the opening credits. I have a serious weakness for evil glinty glasses. It's incredibly fun to write him because he's so tongue-in-cheek one moment, and dead serious the next. I like how my authors' notes for this fic are all mini love letters. First Crona, then Black Star, now Stein. Yay Stein. Warnings: Boys swearing, playing fast and loose with the idea of resonance, silly things.

* * *

Soul wasn't sure if Maka realized Stein's friend would be in his office for his office hours. When she entered the office and saw it, Soul saw a tiny hitch in her step. But, as ever, she pressed boldly on.

"Ah, Maka. To what do I owe the pleasure?" murmured Stein, looking up from his desk. His eyes stayed down a half-second longer than it took him to speak, his attention shifting slowly. His friend sat behind him, looking, for all intents and purposes, asleep.

Soul watched Stein's face as Maka said, "I'd like another extracurricular assignment, Professor," but Stein's smile didn't betray a thing.

Stein steepled his fingers. "Would this assignment have to do with soul resonance?"

Visibly unperturbed, Maka pressed on. "Yes, Professor."

"Good. I'd expected you'd try to take a peek at us yesterday. Did you watch us closely today as well?" asked Stein, and Soul frowned. He'd been keeping an eye on all three of them, and he'd only seen Maka look as casual as anything.

Maka nodded. "Yes, Professor. And I think it's a good thing."

"What's a good thing?" asked Stein, bowing his head to look again at the report in front of him. He drew a small red "x" about three-quarters of the way down the page.

"Er. Your friend," said Maka, and though Soul wanted to stare at the guy in the corner, it was suddenly very important to him that the back of Maka's neck was turning pink. "His soul was reaching back."

It was so monumentally absorbing to Soul that the color creeping up Maka's neck was starting to make its way into her ears that he almost didn't notice the guy in the corner starting to smile. It was, as smiles went, the kind that Soul wanted to steal and try on in the mirror later for himself. It wasn't really a real smile, but the kind of smile a really, really badass guy would make, once he got the chiseled lines of his stony expression to soften enough to emote. He watched as one of the guy's eyebrows rose, then slowly lowered again just below the level of his sunglasses, and realized he was going to have a lot of practicing to do in the mirror later when he couldn't sleep.

Fuck, but Maka's ears were getting red, and Stein was laughing, and had he missed something?

"I didn't mean it that way, Professor!" she said, looking nearly beaten.

Stein's laughter softened, but his shoulders kept shaking. "It's still a very cruel thing to say to a man, Maka. Honestly, you haven't even taken the time to introduce yourself."

The flush made its way into Maka's cheeks and Soul swallowed thickly.

Maka bowed deeply, her pigtails nearly pinwheeling with the motion. "I'm very sorry, sir! Maka Albarn, one-star meister, at your service."

Soul blinked. Then bowed, conspicuously less low, deciding that the coolest thing to do was more like a deep nod. "Soul. I'm her scythe."

The guy in the corner smiled, then, a real smile. It showed sharp, white teeth, and with it came a rumbling, deep voice that curled as the man drawled, "Y'can call me Gambit." He just tipped his head to them, casual as anything. Soul burned with jealousy. He was so _cool_!

Stein looked, when Soul bothered to check, rather like a cat with a saucerful of cream. The last comparison he wanted to draw was one between Blair and Stein, but his brain seemed to be pulling it off just fine. His brain had picked up on the stitching on Gambit's shirt, too, and his jeans, and the fact that he was _still_ in Spirit's jacket, and wore it like it was made for him.

Maka rallied beautifully. "It's nice to finally meet you, Mister Gambit. I didn't mean to imply that having a relatively, ah, compact soul meant you were any less powerful, or less deserving of having Professor Stein be your meister."

Soul wanted to smack Maka for even mentioning the size of the guy's soul. That had to be pretty serious rudeness. He had to stop zoning out on her when she was talking, take one for the team. Still, as apologies went, that one seemed pretty acceptable. He couldn't quite see why Gambit suddenly felt the need to bite his lower lip like he did, nor suck in his cheeks like he was biting on them.

"No offense taken, _cher_," murmured Gambit. "But I feel like I 'ave to correct you. Stein's not my meister."

Soul shook off the shock as Maka squawked, "Hunh?"

Stein shook his head, though he didn't seem to be able to stop smiling. "Of course not. Why would I be? I would have thought you'd be able to tell, Maka. His soul isn't a weapon's. Take a closer look."

As Gambit tipped his chin up, giving visible permission, which wasn't something Soul had ever thought to do and he then recognized as nearly unbearably cool, Maka made a soft sound. Her eyes went wide and unfocused, giving her that odd glassy look that Soul would never in a million years admit was a little unsettling. She held it for a few seconds, then came back to herself. She frowned.

"It's not. But how-"

"Your extracurricular assignment, Maka, is to figure that out," Stein purred, his smile growing wicked. "After all, weapons are still human. They just have special abilities. Spend some time resonating with Soul while he's not in scythe form. And tell me once you've learned."

"But we've already done it," said Maka, frowning.

Soul rolled his eyes. _Here we go,_ he thought, as Stein sat up a little.

"Would this have anything to do with the black blood," said Stein. He didn't phrase it like a question, and Maka didn't answer like it was.

"How did you know that?" she asked with a frown.

Stein sat back a little, lit a cigarette. He took a long slow drag, then passed it to Gambit. Soul felt his jaw dropping as he watched him take a puff, then leave it smoldering in the corner of his mouth. The sheer casual nature of the movement, of both of their movements, was cool. It was like Stein knew Gambit wanted it without asking. Unspoken agreements between men. They looked crazy badass. It wasn't fair.

Stein was saying something, and it ended with, "- doesn't matter. The point is, it's going to be much more difficult to resonate with him when you aren't both under extreme duress."

"We're up to the challenge, Professor," said Maka, shaking one fist resolutely in front of herself.

Then, to Soul's squirming embarrassment, Stein smiled and said the two worst possible words he could have at that point. "We know."

* * *

Maka, being Maka, wanted to try it That Night. Soul knew it was coming, and knew it was probably a good idea. There wasn't any reason not to try it, and he owed a lot of his personal successes to Maka pushing him.

But the first time they'd done it, with the kishin looming, with the sounds of battle around them and Soul's sudden, searing, wrenching weakness, he remembered only waking up in her lap. They were not going to do that again, no.

And yet. As Maka explained what she'd done the first time, putting their foreheads together to find the thread of his soul, he realized proximity, if not outright touch, was required. He knew they should start there, should start with what they knew, and once they grew stronger, they'd lengthen the distance between them. Briefly he joked about resonating across a football field, and wouldn't that show Stein who the best meister was.

Maka had laughed. And then leaned closer, putting her hands together, wrists together, as she leaned her weight on them on the sofa. She'd said, Come On, Soul, and he'd heard Stein's voice in his head saying _We Know_.

The words rattled around in his head. Who was "we" and what did they think they knew about him? Did Stein tell Gambit about the black blood? Did he really care? He had a handle on it. He was tough. Stein of all people should get the whole personal-demons thing, even if Soul's was a little on the literal side. Stein didn't seem to be the spill-the-beans type, though, which meant it might have to be another kind of Knowing.

Suddenly the treacherous part of his brain wanted to know how much they Knew, and whether they wanted Maka and Soul to find out in the way Soul was afraid Stein meant. Gambit was in Stein's clothes. They shared a smoke, not just the light but the filter. Did they? It wasn't a prerequisite to resonance! Otherwise a guy like Stein was a serious cheater and he didn't even want to think about the time he and Black Star fought Kid and Black Star couldn't wield him and - his soul waves had been far too chaotic to resonate. Even Maka yelling at him hadn't calmed them down. The worst part had been when Blair got home, and apologized for breaking in on them.

That was about the time Maka had stormed off and slammed herself up in her room. Soul had gone to his own at a slightly more sedate pace. He didn't even have the guts left to try that not-smile thing in the mirror.

_We Know_. Maybe it was a vote of confidence, but Soul couldn't help but hear the subtext. _We know something you don't_.

* * *

The week that had begun with Stein's return and an extracurricular assignment had, in Soul's opinion, only gone downhill. With his increasing inability to relax during their attempted resonance sessions, Maka only grew more frustrated with him. They didn't talk over dinner, not even about homework. Maka didn't offer to help him study like she always did, just so he could turn her down. He didn't take out his headphones when he was doing the dishes. The tension grew palpable to the point that Soul decided maybe being out all weekend was the best choice.

It wasn't like he didn't want to resonate. He wanted to be the best. He wanted to be a Deathscythe, faster and tougher and stronger than any of the others. His meister beat the kishin. That counted. Of course he trusted her. To be an idiot. And to be resilient, and. And that was getting him nowhere. What he wanted was to be the best, and he knew it would take work to get there. Work meant screwing up. This was just another screw-up they'd recover from. His job was to remind her of that.

Hell, look at Tsubaki! If she could resonate with Black Star, and get his resonance rate down to just mere dominance so Maka could accept it? Soul could do that. He just had to relax. He had to let it happen, and trust her. Again. Like always.

But the thing was, he trusted her never to give up on him, no matter how mad she got. He trusted her to do stupid things because they were the right thing to do and somehow she thought she'd manage, and she usually did, even if it wasn't entirely on her own. He knew he trusted her. Why couldn't he relax?

It wasn't sexual tension. He'd even tried and it hadn't done a thing for him. Not even that freckle. Or her tiny butt. It really was tiny. No, he didn't really care what shape Maka was, he couldn't objectify her like that, and he wasn't suicidal enough to try anything else. She just was his, and he was hers, and the possession was the bond of their contract, nothing else. Their souls bonded. Stein did it all the time, to everyone. Okay, extreme case, but that meant it wasn't special. They just used really heavy words to describe it, when really they were just getting the job done. A working relationship.

Soul whipped his headband off, chewed on the end of it, and ran his hands through his hair, scratching hard. Hell, what was he missing? What was he doing wrong? Why couldn't he just relax? He knew he was good enough. He had to be!

His feet had carried him toward the Academy without his conscious permission. No way in hell would he go there on a Saturday for any other reason than dumb misfortune while his brain was occupied elsewhere. He looked up the huge flight of steps toward the entrance, at the construction crew putting the building back together.

He'd have turned away if he hadn't seen the figure of a man on the quieter side of the building. No fool should be at the Academy on a Saturday. It looked like the guy was just standing out on one of the side balconies, as far away from the construction as architecturally possible. And it looked like he was in all black.

Soul swallowed. If Gambit could do it, he could. This resonance thing? That was cool. He was cool.

Soul jogged up the steps, his hands in his pockets, taking them two at a time. Periodically he glanced up toward that balcony, but the closer he got to the door, the harder it got to tell if he was still out there, or if it was Gambit at all. He took the risk and headed into the Academy anyway, his legs burning from the stairs. Though his steps were light, they echoed down well-waxed, empty halls. Without bodies to muffle the sounds of his movements, Soul felt oddly exposed.

He slowed down, stepped carefully, just to hear how it changed his whole presence in the halls. He saw his reflection in the floors, heard his own breath around him. This was so much easier when all he had to do was mitigate the sound of twigs snapping underfoot. It almost felt like an intrusion, the way he broke the silence.

When he rounded the corner toward the balconies, he stopped. No, that was him. He had to do this right. He stepped back a little, shook out his shirt, relaxed his posture. He was cool. Just dropping by. No tension, no frustration, none of that at all.

Gambit at least had the decency to pretend not to notice him walking up, but Soul felt he maybe laid it on a little thick. He was just glad the guy didn't act surprised to see him there beyond the casual, "I thought today was Saturday."

"It is," said Soul, and shrugged. He leaned his hip against the railing of the balcony, casually upwind. The last thing he needed to do was cough if Gambit felt the need to light up.

"Try'na get to the head'a the class, huh?" murmured Gambit, his mouth quirking.

Soul snorted, then looked out, off the balcony, taking in the view. "Hah. Maka gets in enough extra credit for both of us." Down below, far below in the park, Soul watched as three kids pushed a smaller kid in a tire swing. Around and around, the circles getting faster and more erratic.

When he glanced over, he saw one of Gambit's smiles disappearing into a bland expression eerily reminiscent of one of Stein's. Gambit said, "Yeah, she's a smart one."

"Um," said Soul. He shrugged, and looked down again. The little kid in the swing lost a shoe. "Yeah. She's the top of the class."

"So what's the extra credit for?" asked Gambit, and the tone stopped Soul from reacting with a knee-jerk 'Dunno'.

He paused. Chewed on it. Then smiled as he said, "'Cause her dad's an embarrassment."

Gambit raised one eyebrow, and held it for a long moment. Soul could feel himself being scrutinized, but he didn't back down. That was one thing he knew. Even when Gambit said, "I didn't know Death hung out with embarrassments."

Soul shook his head. "Being a powerful weapon is one thing. You're only as good as your meister, and the way you control their power. That's how it works. That guy had two of the best. Ever. Without them, who knows where he'd be. They pushed him to be as good as he'd have to be to be a Deathscythe. But he's a deadbeat, and she can't forgive him. He embarrassed her and her mom. So Maka's got to do him one better. Teach him a lesson."

Hell, it felt amazing to say that. Like he understood, but had never put it down in words before. Maka never handled being embarrassed. But he realized, a split-second later, when Gambit smiled and said, "Gotcha", that he maybe could have phrased that better.

He groaned. Not cool! "Look. It's nice you're borrowing his coat and all, but-" he paused. He was going to say, _she hates his guts_. But was that it? Maka was weird about that sort of stuff. He chewed on the side of his tongue. Down in the park, the kids from the tire swing had left. He saw the littlest one propped up against the ladder to the slide, looking severely disoriented.

And Gambit was waiting patiently for him to finish. The past three nights of failure pressed words past his lips he didn't realize he meant until he said them. "But she's never going to stop pushing until she's beat him."

It was a long moment. A sandcastle was built down in the park, then demolished by someone's little sister tripping over a discarded ball. Soul didn't quite know where to look with the sunglasses, but he felt Gambit's gaze on him, like an itch or a weight. When he finally looked over and just decided to go for broke, staring into the sunglasses, Gambit smiled.

"Yeah, and you're not gonna let 'er down, are ya?" he rumbled, like it was a compliment. It annoyed Soul and puffed his pride out at once, that Gambit could see him being cool and called him on it. That Gambit could acknowledge he'd be way more faithful. Way more than anything Maka's dad could pull off. And he did it without taking sides at all.

"Hey," he said, his voice quiet. "So. Are you okay? You look. A lot better." Soul knew it was an understatement.

From the look of it, Gambit did too. He laughed, this low, rough, smoker's laugh, the kind that went with the badass smile. It wasn't fair.

"Yeah," said Gambit. "You could say that."

Soul could feel Gambit closing the door on him, and he took the dare, stepping right through on his own cool. It almost felt like a competition. If it was, he'd win. "That has to do with you and Professor Stein resonating, right?"

Gambit grinned, broad and wicked, and said, "Wouldn't you like to know."

"For fuck's sake!" cried Soul, which sent Gambit's head back as he roared with laughter. Soul resisted the urge to smack his own forehead, but just barely. He was half expecting a noogie. What the hell?

"Yeah," said Gambit, slowly recovering, his smile unabashed. "It's a little more complicated than that, but it's a good place to start."

"That's a heavy word," muttered Soul, half ready to walk out if he got wink-wink-nudge-nudged. It had been a very long three weeks, and he was short on patience for being teased. Even if it kind of made him feel awesome at the same time. "You think I can't handle complicated?"

"I dunno. Can you?"

Soul knew he was being baited. He had to be cool. He could take it. He could handle it. He raised an eyebrow and tucked his hands into his pants pockets. "Does the complication come from Stein's insanity?"

This grin was more like a baring of teeth. "Only if you let it." His look turned thoughtful. "I could give you a hint, but it's gonna mean homework. And I mean real, at-home, work."

"What are you, a professor? I just asked if you were okay," said Soul, instantly suspicious. That sounded like an implication of his own weakness. Stein had told him about the black blood. Bastard.

Gambit snorted. "I got a coupla weeks' training ahead of me, but eventually, yeah." He shrugged. "Maybe you'll take my class."

Soul's eyes narrowed. Seriously? Some guy off the street, out of nowhere, becoming a professor? Maka was going to flip her shit. He was flipping his own shit. What could this guy do?

All he managed was, "Congratulations."

"Thanks," said Gambit, inclining his head. "So, d'you wanna know?"

Soul's first impulse was to shout, _Not if you're gonna be a dick about it!_ But that was not cool. That not-a-nod thing? That was cool. Gambit was cool. Cool is as cool does. Cool deserves cool in return. He thought he did a pretty good job of not sounding like a pouty kid when he asked, "Are you just going to tell me to take your class or something?"

Gambit laughed. "Well wouldn't I sound like a dick, then." He shook his head. "Nah, c'mon, let's go into the office."

When Gambit turned, heading for the other door off the balcony, Soul had no choice but to follow, his hands in his pockets. The office turned out to be Stein's, but the professor was nowhere in sight. Without Soul's asking, Gambit said, "He's out troubling the janitorial staff again, I'll bet."

Soul didn't ask with what. He just watched as Gambit slid into Stein's chair, easy as anything, and beckoned him to sit on a low side table that had been partially cleared of books. Soul opted to lean against it, as sitting on it would have taken his feet off the floor, and he couldn't get the mental image of the kid from the tire swing out of his head.

"So you gotta be honest first," said Gambit, leaning back in the chair. "It's not workin', is it."

Soul would have reacted differently if it had sounded like an accusation. Instead, it sounded like it had been expected, like Stein had set them up to fail so they'd learn. Stein always did that. He let out a slow breath instead of huffing, then shrugged one shoulder. "No. It's not."

Gambit nodded slowly, looking appreciative of the honesty. With infuriating calm, he said, "Yeah, I don't really know a whole lot about this soul business. Didn't know I 'ad one 'til I met the Professor." He smiled, then, relaxing down into the chair.

"But from the way I understand it, these things kinda work better if you've got a little bit of a warm-up. I don't mean you gotta go out and jog or some crazy shit like that. I mean, like, if you're s'posed to line up some..." He waved a hand, searching for a word to encompass the circular motion he made. "Some cosmic part 'a yourself, that's pretty heavy. And if you're just doin' it cold-turkey? I mean, hell, it's not like some kinda polar bear challenge where you throw yourself in ice water and then just _swim_ 'cause it's fuckin' cold. It's more like you're playin' an instrument. You gotta tune it up first. You know? Makin' sure your strings are all set, your keys move, your pedals, whatever. Ever heard anybody try'na play on a cold violin? It's like listening to someone try'na to strangle a cat."

Gambit chuckled to himself, giving Soul a little time to scramble to catch up. He'd gotten lost at the polar bears, and the cat had only deepened his confusion.

"But I'm serious," said Gambit, though Soul had his doubts. "If your soul is this big ol' part'a you, easiest way to tune it up, get yourselves warmed up, is maybe talk for a few minutes. And I don't mean about your souls. Hell if I know what good that'd do." He frowned. "It's more like. Like just the dumb stuff, you know? What'd you do today, this happened, that happened. So that you're already in the same space. You're occupyin' the same parts of your own heads. Then, if you're try'na line your souls up, you're practically there. They just have to meet. Right?" He ran his hands through his hair. "Hell, I'm prob'ly makin' this shit up. I'm prob'ly crazy. But it works."

Soul watched him re-tie his ponytail, frowning all the while. It sounded like so much touchy-feely to him. He and Maka could resonate. They could kick ass at the same time, is what they could do! He crossed his arms over his chest. "So let me get this straight. You and Stein have little chats-"

Gambit grinned. "Mostly we just bitch about shit. It's good times."

"You didn't look like you were really in a place to tell anybody about your day," said Soul, refusing to be amused by the idea of Stein bitching about shit.

Gambit gave him another one of those long looks, with a smaller, drier smile. "Nah. It's when your whole day consists of 'I finally got outta bed', that you get so excited you've gotta tell somebody about it."

The stark honesty, Gambit laying a weak point, however vague, right there for Soul to see, gave Soul pause. He'd never had a professor talk to him like that before. His frown remained, but softened a little. It was getting personal, and he wasn't going to push. He just shook his head and looked away. He chewed the inside of his cheek. "So, Stein listened, huh?"

"Yeah. He did." Gambit spoke so softly, Soul had to look back over. He felt drawn in, like he might miss it if he didn't watch. Gambit stretched his legs out, took a breath, let it out. When Soul's frown deepened again, Gambit just tipped his head back. The man was thinking. Not brushing him off.

It was such a sign of respect that Soul waited. Even when he wanted to ask, or to prompt, he kept his silence. If Gambit was going to chew on something for him, he didn't want it to come out until it was ready.

Gambit snorted, smiling wryly at the ceiling. He sat up a little better, looked back at Soul.

"Alright. This is gonna sound like a buncha touchy-feely crap," he said. "But. If you try it, I think it might help."

Soul raised an eyebrow and waited. He tried not to be a smartass about it, but with a preface like that he figured it would be best if he didn't say anything at all.

"So, when, uh. Maka tells you stuff. You remember, right? You pay attention and listen, don'tcha?"

"Yeah."

"And hell, if she doesn't believe you that I told you this, you can make her come and talk to me too. But, I think you guys gotta set aside a little bit of time every day. Even just over dinner, or whenever you got it. Actual time, like a half an hour at least, but if it takes longer, it takes longer. Sit down and talk about stuff. And, you know."

Soul braced himself, but this wasn't You Know. It wasn't an implication, it was understanding. He knew. Gambit, giving no sign of having noticed Soul tensing up, continued, "Like I said, even the easy stuff. Throw each other a coupla softballs to start. What'd you do today. That sort of thing. 'N' then, when the conversation's over, find yourself a notebook somewhere. Write down what she tells you. Not every single word, but just. What's important. Then try resonatin'." He nodded to himself, like he liked that answer. "Just try it. Give yourselves a week or two, then come back and tell me I'm crazy. Hey, maybe in the meantime I'll see if I can't bully that professor of yours into givin' me some secret answers so I figure out how all this shit works." He grinned.

Soul considered for a moment. Then said, "Yeah, it sounds like bullshit."

Gambit shrugged. "Least you know the bull it's come from."

Despite himself, Soul started to laugh.

* * *

Gambit, in the end, had been right. Maka hadn't believed him, and Soul had no illusions that she would. In the end, he just told her to go find Gambit and ask him herself, then, and when she stomped out he wondered why she'd been so pissed. Normally she'd love to have someone to gossip to, or just talk at.

Then again, he'd gotten to talk to Gambit first, not Maka. So she probably thought that was cheating or something. He took the afternoon off in any case, waiting for her to get her own dose of the truth. He worked out, took a shower, went on a search for a lost sock. He didn't want to know why Blair had it, or what use she'd put it to, but it was a good sock. One of those weird, fancy ones with the arch support knitted into it so you had a left sock and a right sock and it told you on the toe which sock it was. They kind of looked like idiot socks, but nobody was looking at Soul's feet without shoes on them anyway.

As he reintroduced one sock to its long-lost counterpart, Maka came back. He knew because she said, "_Professor_ Gambit?"

Soul looked over his shoulder. "Don't you need a degree for something like that? I think he'll be more of a practical-purposes sort of guy."

She glared at him. Then visibly straightened, her chin up. "So let's go get notebooks then."

"You're really gonna do it?"

"You have a better idea?" Maka put her hands on her hips. The keys in her sweatshirt pocket clinked against each other. "It's not the same as before. I'm running out of things to try, so we may as well just do it in the meantime."

Soul tilted his head. Then huffed, and pulled his backpack out of his closet. He opened it, pulled out a notebook with a plain yellow cover. He held it out, and half-smiled. "Yeah, okay. You first."

Maka raised her eyebrows, then broke into a skeptical smile. She took the notebook, flipped it open. Her jaw dropped.

"What do you _mean_ I owe you two bucks?" she cried, swatting him with the notebook.

Soul laughed, bringing one arm up to protect himself. "They aren't free, you know?"

Maka changed tacks with impressive agility. "You bought me a crappy two-dollar notebook?"

"On loan," corrected Soul, and caught it when she winged it hard at his head. "What put you in such a good mood anyway? Something he told you?"

Maka grinned, then, taking the notebook back and holding it behind her back, rocking onto her heels. "He didn't tell me anything more than he told you. But my dad told me to stay away from him." She waved a hand. "It's too late now, he's in Stein's clutches, blah blah."

"Taking the class, huh?" asked Soul, trying to banish that mental image.

Maka snorted. "I'm going to go get a pencil. Meet me in the living room, okay?"

Soul knew an unspoken yes when he heard it. He thought maybe he'd make popcorn. "Yeah, okay."

* * *

The rest of the weekend was weird. Maka took to writing down the things he said like he was in an interview, and got pissed at him when he tried to trip her up by changing the words he was saying halfway through saying them.

He thought "Hippopotatoes" was a hilarious word, no matter how much of Maka's eraser it wasted. Then he got accused of not taking it seriously, and he accused her of taking it too seriously, and she stole his notebook from him to see that he hadn't written a thing, and he stole her notebook from her and sat on it.

Then they'd talked. And Soul hadn't zoned out, not once, not even to think about the spiral bindings leaving an uncomfortable pressure point at the back of his knee. Nothing she told him was surprising, which had to be the strangest part. She told him things he already knew about her, but in different ways. Words mattered. _Angry_ and _upset_ were different. So were _silly_ and _ridiculous_. He got the feeling he wasn't telling her anything new either, but she listened so hard.

Eventually, he gave her back her notebook. She promised not to steal his anymore, without his asking her to.

On Sunday, she admitted she was a little afraid to try the resonance again. He said, "D'you wanna talk about that?"

She said, "Not really." But then did anyway. That was the thing about Maka. And she didn't tell him like she thought she owed it to him, but like she was doing it for herself. Once she'd worked through everything going crazy in her own head, she didn't even look at him like she expected him to reciprocate, which was a relief, mostly because he'd been too busy listening to think of what to say.

He'd never realized how insane she was. Or how much she really sounded like some of the insane thoughts he had.

And then she'd smiled at him and said, "You can write that down, I guess."

He said, "Are you crazy?"

She threw a kernel of Saturday night's popcorn at him and said, "I'm your meister, aren't I?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means yes."

* * *

Maybe it was his imagination, but the stairs up to the DWMA on Monday morning didn't seem so long. Maka walked right beside him, her steps making her pigtails bounce. They hadn't tried again yet, deciding that maybe they needed another of Stein's classes to pass. Maka wanted to watch Stein and Gambit together again.

That was one of the last things she'd told him. That she'd been with Gambit, and he'd been telling her to interview Soul, and she'd known Professor Stein was eavesdropping in the hall because their souls reached out to one another. She saw the resonance before she saw the Professor, and she knew he was doing it to bait her.

Soul had asked what the hell she could say to that, and Maka told him she hadn't said a word. She was there to listen and learn. After all, they were teachers. She had to give them every opportunity to do the best they could to teach her.

Out of self-preservation, Soul hadn't said what he was thinking, which was _I don't know if it's supposed to work that way_. But once that initial skepticism passed, he didn't feel the need to say it either. It sounded less true every time his mind passed over it. That was the thing about Maka.

He'd lost himself in thought and slowed down enough that Maka hit the top of the stairs before he did, but then she stopped stock still. He caught up, followed her line of sight, blinked.

It wasn't that Gambit and Mifune were next to each other. That made sense, in the grand scheme of things. Gambit was going to become a teacher. Mifune was too. They probably had training stuff to do together. It wasn't that they, as a unit, appeared to be talking to Black Star and Tsubaki. It was more that Black Star was about three feet away in fighting stance (not the unusual part, given Black Star), while Tsubaki, instead of being a few feet further back, or next to Black Star, was standing much closer to Mifune. They didn't look at each other, but then, did they have to? Soul risked a glance over at Maka, and saw she was going to be insufferable all morning.

"What do you think?" came the question from behind them, low and amused. "Shall I make him wait a week for this one?"

Maka jumped. "Professor Stein!"

"I ought to give you detention for letting me sneak up on you like that, Maka," he chided, his expression stern for half a second before he smiled. "But Soul gets ten points."

Why? He looked at Maka. Oh. He'd gotten between them without even thinking about it. It hadn't been more than a step, but he'd done it. He raised his eyebrows at Stein, and got himself ignored again as Stein went to distract Black Star instead of continuing the conversation.

He heard Maka huff behind him, and when he turned, she had her hands on her hips.

"Ten points toward what?"

"Metaphorical ten points," she said, looking less annoyed and more curious as her gaze returned to Mifune and Tsubaki. "What are they doing standing like that?"

"Staying out of the way," said Soul. He put his hands in his pockets, and stepped forward. "You coming?"

He made it six steps before she caught up. Good. They got within earshot just in time to hear Gambit call Tsubaki _cher_, but he'd done that to Maka too, so maybe it was his thing about girls. Mifune didn't call Tsubaki anything, but mostly because Black Star was busy complaining at the top of his lungs.

Stein turned to Gambit. He mumbled something. Gambit grinned, shrugged, said, "Works for me."

Stein said, "Black Star."

Black Star said, "Yeah, what now?"

Stein said, "If you can keep your mouth shut about it for five days, then meet us on the front steps, Friday afternoon. Three. Tsubaki may watch, but I call a one-on-one."

Black Star punched the air. "Yeah! You're on! I'll take you down!" He raised a fist to Gambit, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"May we watch too?" asked Maka. The oddity of it brought Soul's attention right back to her with a snap. He missed the answer, but it had to be an affirmative because she was smiling.

When she slid her eyes toward him, her smile quirked, and he started to smile too. He made the mistake of glancing toward Gambit, and somehow, even with the sunglasses, he knew the guy was looking at him.

Yeah. They'd watch. He wanted to see what he could do.


	4. Resignation

A/N: Warning: M/M. It's not explicit, but implied. It shouldn't really be surprising though. :D

* * *

The way Black Star got around mentioning the upcoming match was with word replacement. He came up with a lot of creative euphemisms, but by the end of the day, his teachers had lost patience with "I'm gonna do you-know-what to you-know-who at that time in the place!" and had given him enough detention to get every eraser in the DWMA sparkling clean.

Normally, when Black Star had detention, Tsubaki hung out to help, which usually meant doing the lion's share of the work. When Soul saw her outside the DWMA, walking alone, it was weird enough that he pointed it out.

"Hey, Tsubaki!" Maka waved, jogging over through the trees to catch up to her.

When Soul got up beside them again, Tsubaki was saying, "-and those take a while to cook. Black Star said it would be best if I went home and started early on them. He's got to build up his strength."

"For the thing in the place at that time?" muttered Soul.

Tsubaki laughed. "He's really excited about it. Having a concrete date is helping his focus a lot."

"Um-m," said Maka, tucking her hands behind her back. "So, uh. How's Mifune? Was he just hanging out with Mister Gambit this morning?"

Tsubaki looked over, then smiled. "Mhm. Since they're both training to teach here, they've started spending more time together lately."

Maka said, "Oh? Like they're getting to be friends."

From the extra little bounce in her step, it was obvious Tsubaki was pleased. "Mister Gambit has even come over to help out with Angela. He's really good with her. They're funny together." She hummed. "And when Professor Stein works late on Wednesdays, Mister Gambit comes over. That used to be my day to help babysit during the week, but we got used to the routine, so now I just bring dinner for four."

Soul stared, the implications going deeper than he realized, he was sure. He was partly dreading hearing them from Maka later. Maka, it seemed, was doing better than he was. "Yeah? That's really nice of you, Tsubaki. But, that kind of sounds like you're babysitting someone else now, too."

"Maybe that's an extreme way of putting it," said Tsubaki generously. She shrugged. "I. I just don't think anybody's ready to leave Mister Gambit on his own yet. Mister Gambit included."

"What? Why?"

Tsubaki's smile faltered a little, and she shook her head. "I don't know, really. But he's the first adult I've seen Mifune act protectively toward, even if it's not to the same degree. He understands something I don't about him." She sighed. "But he's really very kind, Mister Gambit. Angela likes him."

"Angela doesn't much like anybody but Mifune," murmured Soul, remembering her vicious kicks to Black Star's shins.

"She's a sweet girl," said Tsubaki, always defending. "And she's coming along very well in her magic."

Maka tilted her head. "Are you sure about her, Tsubaki? She's a witch."

"I'm sure," she said, which was rather worse than any kind of chiding, thought Soul. When had Tsubaki started to do that? Then, she laughed. "Apparently the only babysitters she'll stand are Mister Gambit and me, so I've got to be around a lot. I don't think she can become too much trouble if her big sister's a weapon."

"That's one way to adjust, er, values?" said Maka, her hand waving in a search for a better word.

Tsubaki laughed again, and shook her head. "I'll say. Though I don't think I'll get her to come around to Black Star's side any time soon."

"One miracle at a time," said Soul, starting to smile.

Tsubaki flushed, then rubbed gently at the side of her neck. Soul watched as, after, she tucked her hand behind her back. She smiled at the ground before her feet. "Did you guys want to come over for dinner?"

Soul wanted to agree, but Maka said, "Thanks, but we wouldn't want to butt in on Black Star bulking up. Soul and I have some training of our own to do."

Soul sighed, but Maka took him by the wrist, and waved to Tsubaki, and started to pull. He waved as well, and Tsubaki just smiled at him in return. It was warm, and a little knowing, and a little ...dreamy? No, she was probably just thinking about all of the stuff Black Star wanted her to cook. Tsubaki made that face over her cooking all the time. He was sure of it.

He let Maka pull him down the street to their apartment building, then shook himself out of her grip so he could fix his sleeve. She gave him a look, dripping with subtext, but he didn't return it, tipping his chin up and closing his eyes.

Soul never brought out the notebook when they were talking before the resonance, but waited to fill it out afterward, when he was tired and unable to sleep, and could get past all of the things Maka said and down into what he thought she meant. Never before was he so glad of that practice as when he had to sit through Maka's speculation on Tsubaki's new information. After a while, he just stopped trying to stem the flow and let her go on.

The problem was, she kept coming back to the same question he had.

"Leave him alone? What did she mean, leave Mister Gambit alone?"

"Maybe he's a berserker. He needs someone to watch him." Soul pulled at the frayed edge of his jeans.

"No, you and I have both talked to him on our own. I mean, Professor Stein was close by, but..." She shook her head. "He's never had to intervene. I've never felt afraid of Mister Gambit."

Soul blinked. "Afraid? You aren't afraid of-"

"That's it. Do you remember? Remember what Black Star said, when he broke into the laboratory? That Mister Gambit was curled up in a ball on the floor. Like he was afraid!"

Soul raised an eyebrow. Someone as cool as Gambit, rocking in the fetal position? After having spoken to the guy, it had seemed so out of place he'd dismissed it as Black Star's ego talking. But his mind returned to that place, to Stein's fury, to his own guilt.

"So they don't want to leave him alone because he's- scared?" It sounded so lame, even just to say it.

Maka put her head to the side and huffed. "Well, okay maybe he is. I mean, the next question is scared of what. Whatever it is, Black Star reminded him of it. Maybe it didn't even have to do with being attacked. But it's always harder to be alone when you're scared."

"That would imply he's scared all the time. No way."

"Yeah way. Who says he's not? Maybe he's anticipating something. Dread, or anxiety. If he doesn't want to be alone, maybe we should see if we can-"

"Nuh uh. No way." Soul held up his hands and crossed them. "Listen, if he's going to be a teacher, the last thing he wants is a bunch of students up in his personal business. It ruins his cred. So not cool. The only reason Tsubaki got in on it was because of Mifune."

Maka's smile was only pause enough to let him enjoy the taste of his own foot. "So there's the in. I'll just. Talk to her."

"Maka-"

"He's a friend of Professor Stein's. Anybody who's actually a friend of his should know us better."

Soul wanted to say 'Us?' but he knew the retort already. His meister had made a decision. He sighed and tipped his head back so it rested on the arm of the couch. "Right, hey. I'm feelin' kinda strung out. Do you want to resonate yet?"

She sank down on the couch next to him, one leg over his feet. He wiggled his toes, and she scooted away, making an indignant noise. "Whatever happened to 'Coolest Meister Ever', huh?"

Soul grinned. "She's being a nosy ass, so she's demoted to maybe just coolest this week."

"Am not." Maka flicked him expertly in the knee, so his leg jumped in reflex. He grunted, and pushed against her leg with both feet. "Friends worry about each other."

"Just don't look for a conspiracy where there isn't one. People'll think you're paranoid," said Soul, sitting up a little more to get his feet out of pinching range. "If something's really up, it'll come out eventually."

She shook her head a little, and laid a hand over his ankle. "So I want to be there when it comes. Not an afterthought. Not in the aftermath."

"Nosy," he said. She just leaned a little more, finding the skin above his sock with her thumb.

"You want to know too," she accused, closing her eyes. "You can't tell me you don't."

Soul snorted, and closed his as well. He listened for Maka's soul, felt her pulse in the heat of her fingertips. "You want it so bad you admitted you're a butt-in."

"Stop talking about my butt, Soul."

Laughing made resonance easier. He could never really figure out why.

* * *

Resonating, Soul reflected, was like meditation and having a fight at the same time. It required most of his concentration and skill, and he was always looking for weak spots, but instead of exploiting them, he patched them. He and Maka, working together, still exhausted themselves, but every time was a little easier.

He liked thinking of being in perfect unison with someone. Unison, but not a clone. He was matching her, she him, and they were separate and the same at once. Like puzzle pieces. Like peanut butter and jelly. Like-

He jumped as Maka ground her heel into his foot. He bit down a yelp but just barely, glaring over at her. He zoned out in lecture all the time, what was the difference now?

Maka wiggled her eyebrows at him, then nodded to Professor Stein. Who was lecturing. Soul looked over. The guy was in his usual turtleneck and lab coat, slumped backward in his old white and green office chair. He was saying something about gall bladders.

Soul glanced back to Maka, one eyebrow raised. She looked at him as though he were the biggest idiot in the world, and passed a slim strip of note paper across the desks to him.

It read: _When did Prof. Stein go on a mission? He's hurt._

Soul frowned, then looked back up to the head of the class. He couldn't see any injuries, and the man wasn't bandaged, so what the hell did Maka mean?

Then Stein tilted his head to one side, turning to read off of the lectern beside him, and in the instant before his hair fell behind his ear, Soul saw the dark, red-violet bruise over the tendon in his neck. He must have gone still too quickly because Maka kicked him again, and only then did his breath restart.

Soul looked down, staring at the paper in front of him, though the words didn't register. That was - it was a fucking _hickey_. The deep-down parts of Soul that weren't dying of embarrassment were split between frustration at Stein's parading it out in public, and die-hard jealousy. He knew whose teeth had made that mark, and the thought of it made him feel a little sick and a little thrilled at the same time. What were they, teenagers? Did they go to a drive-in and neck? Then hit the malt shop after for a shake and some tunes?

Maka kicked him a third time, and he quickly scribbled, "no idea" on the paper before shoving it back toward her. Rather than look at her, he glanced over to his other side.

Liz had one hand over her mouth. Check one. Kid was looking upward, his line of sight level with the top of the chalkboard. Check two. Patty was sleeping. Zip one.

He glanced past Maka, zip two, and Black Star, zip three, to Tsubaki. Check three, oh hell, she was red from her collarbones to her bangs.

Before he could stop himself, his gaze drifted to Gambit, in his usual front-row seat. The guy didn't have any blood on his lips or anything ridiculous, and hadn't appeared to notice half of the Maka Albarn Resonance Team flipping the fuck out. But with a guy like that, who could tell?

He watched, knowing somehow, even through the sunglasses that Gambit was acknowledging him, as one eyebrow raised, then lowered again. Dared him to make a scene. Dared him to be uncool. Like he was going to anyway! He lifted his chin, crossed his arms, and sat back. He would be cool.

After a while, Tsubaki's color returned to normal. Kid resumed drawing down the perfect center of his paper, and Liz spent time waking Patty gently. They were all being cool. That calmed him a little, even while Maka frowned and scribbled and took notes with a vengeance.

When Stein dismissed them, he wasn't quick enough on the draw. Maka turned right to Tsubaki and asked, "Tsubaki, did you hear anything about Professor Stein going on a mission?"

Tsubaki blinked. "Oh, no? Has he taken one?"

Maka stared. "But if he didn't, where else would he have been fighting?"

"Professor Stein got in a fight?" cried Black Star, sitting up straighter. "No fair!"

"No, it wasn't a-" started Soul, then stopped when Kid, from behind him, said, "Shh."

He sagged in his seat, then noticed Gambit at the front of the room, pretending not to watch them.

Maka was pointing to the front of the classroom, now very nearly the center of Gambit's chest, where Professor Stein had been talking. "He was hurt! I saw the bruise. It must have been bad if he were hit. And I didn't think he was taking missions because-"

"I never said he didn't want to," said Tsubaki softly, "Or that he couldn't. Maybe Mister Gambit came over when I wasn't there."

"But you know it's not a-" said Soul again, and when Maka rounded on him, he saw the headlights coming for him, and the impending crash. "Why don't you ask Mister Gambit since he's still here?"

"Soul Eater," said Gambit, his hands tucked in his pockets. "I am ashamed of you. A gentleman doesn't leave a lady in the dark when she's got questions he can answer. You know the answer, don't you?"

He looked down, and the bastard was smiling. Worse, he'd said "Gentleman" like Mifune said "Warrior", and like Soul said "Badass" in his own head. Like it was worthy.

Soul groaned. "Um. Tell you when we resonate?" he managed lamely.

To his utter shock, Maka whipped off her glove, caught him by the wrist, and in a flash, they were- they _were_. She resonated with him perfectly, and he was at once together in their soul bond and sitting in the classroom surrounded by stunned members of his team. Distantly, he heard Gambit whistle.

"Tell me now, Soul," said Maka, her triumph only mitigated by her frustration.

He sagged, his soul settling into the resonance like a homecoming. And smiled wryly. "I think girls like to call it a love bite."

Her flush almost ended it. It was a seriously close thing. It got Soul thinking about the way it colored the back of her neck. Which got him thinking about her neck. And bruises. His teeth would cut right through her skin, he knew it. But Maka was looking just lower than his eyes, so he knew it had to be his mouth, and he wanted to smile and bite his own lips at the same time, and he didn't know which he did because she whipped her head away.

Stein, at the front of the classroom, was clapping. Slow, lazy, deliberate. He grinned around a cigarette.

"Good job on the extra credit, you two," he said. "I'll consider that assignment complete."

Why was it, Soul wondered, that whenever Stein told him he'd done a good job, he felt like knocking out a few of the guy's teeth? He glared down at the front of the room as Stein turned his back on him, but Gambit, still smiling, gave him a nod. A slow, shallow, cool-as-fuck nod that told him he'd done exactly what he was supposed to do.

He'd been a gentleman.

Soul watched Gambit hold the door for Stein on the way, heard Stein laughing in the hall. He felt before he heard Maka say, "Hell."

He looked up at her, their hands clasped between them, and thought about the freckle on the back of her leg only he ever saw. This was like that. Resonating while she was frustrated and pleased and proud and fierce all at once. Maybe in time she'd even grow up cute.

"Did you really have to say that in front of everybody?" she asked, looking exasperated.

"You wanted the answer," said Soul, and shrugged. He rose, nudging his chair out of the way with the side of his leg. He looked down into her eyes, grinned, and said, "Let go. Even a football field starts with one step, right?"

"What the hell are you talking about football fields for?" asked Black Star, and the both of them jerked. It had been like he and Maka had been the only people in the world. She turned on Black Star, and, in the process, let go.

Soul was catapulted out of the resonance so roughly he coughed. He rubbed his own wrist, even as Maka turned back to him, an apology already in her mouth. He held up his hand.

"You broke it. You do the dishes."

She stared at him, then sagged, and huffed. "Yeah, okay." Somehow, even without the resonance, her hand found his again, and tugged before releasing. When she started to move, he followed. He heard Patty start giggling behind him, and knew the others would follow too.

"So," he said, loud enough for it to carry. "I'm in the mood for a little four-on-three."

"Boys to girls?" asked Tsubaki dubiously.

"Hah! Meisters to weapons! Last one to the court plays to the first point one-handed!"

He was sprinting even before Black Star managed a yeah-hoo.

* * *

The four-on-three hadn't happened. Kid had been reduced to near tears, though Liz and Patty had taken pity on him and arrived last _at the same time_ so they had to use two hands between them. Maka was too high on success to want to give up yet, so Tsubaki sat out.

That left Soul on a team made out of the Thompson sisters. In retrospect, it was entirely too much boob at eye level for a coherent team. And all the girls wanted to talk about was the in-class resonance, which meant it happened during play. Patty kept hugging him and telling him how cool he was, and Black Star kept asking, "Hey. Hey! What's a love bite anyway?"

Maka finally shut it down with, "Shut up, Black Star, it's not like anybody's giving you any so why's it important?"

The insult hadn't landed as Black Star's ego took over, so all Soul really had to contend with was point-guarding a guy chattering about how awesome he was. Situation normal. In the end, they hadn't been too badly thrashed either, owing to Patty's kamikaze dunking skills.

Walking home with Maka was different, then. She had her hands behind her back and he had his hands in his pockets, but his hands wanted her hands. He wanted to do it again, to resonate like it was right, not like it was hard.

They'd managed to make it long enough for Maka to wash the dishes after dinner. After that, they tried again and again, but at no time was it so easy, nor so shocking, as it had been in class.

Eventually, Maka sagged onto the floor, her head leaned back against the sofa, as she said, "This is brutal."

Soul grunted in response. "How the hell'd you do it in class?"

"I was mad, I dunno. I thought emotional stress made soul waves all haywire." She huffed, then fiddled with the hem of her skirt. "You told me to do it to get what I wanted, so I just did. What were you doing?"

"Hoping like hell you'd forget about it." He considered. "Then just being surprised at your balls."

She laughed without humor, wrinkling her nose. "How d'you know so much about, uh. Love bites anyway?"

Soul looked over, then ran one hand through his hair. "Nuh uh. No way. I identified it, that's as far as the obligation goes."

"Obligation?" asked Maka, indignant.

"To be a gentleman. You heard Mister Gambit." He drew one leg up under himself and grunted. "The rest is personal."

She paused, turning that one over. Then frowned, and looked away. For the first time, Soul wondered what Maka thought of Tsubaki and Mifune. How she'd feel if she were Black Star. He could almost hear the tremor in her voice.

All Maka said was, "It's cool."

Soul watched her for a long moment. Then reached out and tugged on one of her pigtails. "Stupid. It was in that movie Liz and Patty liked so much. The one with the flying car at the end."

She blinked, and in the pause before she started laughing, he saw the darkness in her expression melt away. He realized he'd done it again, been a gentleman for the lady's sake.

He was never going to get Mister Gambit's voice out of his head at this rate.


	5. Resolution

A/N: And finale! It's been great, kids. Also I love Black Star. :D

* * *

Maka hadn't forgotten about their conversation about fear. It was a relief, because though Soul was curious, he'd never bring it up. She left him the next afternoon to talk to Tsubaki. Hanging out with Black Star while the guy was training to fight Mister Gambit was a big fat no. Blair was becoming insufferable as she mourned the union of "the weird looking hot guy" and the "kind of scary but hot scientist guy", so staying home was similarly unappealing. And though Kid was kind of cool sometimes, he'd never been to Gallows Manor and didn't have it in his head to start. He had the feeling he'd start moving things by centimeters.

So, kicked out of his own home by a catgirl in mourning, with the burden of his homework shoved to a forgettable corner in the back of his head, Soul wandered. He stayed far away from the apartment student housing, not wanting to run into anyone, really. He walked, instead, down the shops and stalls, taking in the sounds and smells. They were always just a little bit different than anywhere else, a strangeness he'd adopted as the atmosphere of home.

He found a rock in the street, worked it free of the cobblestones, started kicking it ahead of him in an aimless sort of way. If it landed in his path, he kept it going. When he lost it in a gutter, he kept walking. It was nice, not to care about it.

He winced when he heard still more sobbing. What was it with people around here? First Blair, now- that was unmistakably Deathscythe. "The hell?" he said to himself, stopping. He just wanted to classify the sound, not to follow it. But it seemed the noise was coming closer to him.

Soul, cursing his foul luck, stepped slowly backward, planning to dart down the nearest side-street and get the hell away. But he heard Gambit starting to laugh, and Stein's not long after.

Buoyed by his growing horror, as he'd never admit it was actually crippling curiosity, he turned toward a stall and pretended to be engrossed in asparagus. He was just hidden by the stall's overhang, and he was grateful for it. He could hear them coming closer, footsteps on cobbles, Gambit still snickering.

"My-my-my _baby_," moaned Deathscythe, "That kind of resonance is so, so-"

"Grown up?" supplied Stein mercilessly. "She's taking it beyond the battlefield. They're going to be a better team than before. Which means better victories for her. You should be proud."

"_Dirty_!" sobbed Deathscythe. "Everyone knows only the most experienced meisters manifest with their clothes on. I'm going to _kill_ that punk scythe of hers-"

"Hey now, I never showed up any way other than I meant to," said Gambit, the laughter still in his voice.

Stein, the halo hung gently on one of his horns, murmured, "Resonance reflects the nature of the soul. Spirit's an exhibitionist."

Soul bit his tongue. He did not need to hear about nudist soul resonance. Problem was, they were talking about Maka, and candidly. Had Stein not noticed his soul? They were getting further away, so he poked his head out from under the stall's overhang and carefully started to follow their steps.

He heard Deathscythe continuing to sob, mourning his little girl's loss of innocence. Stein, it appeared, was having a hell of a good time twisting the knife, and though he and Gambit each carried armfuls of groceries, Stein shifted his to make hand gestures.

Before Soul could assimilate the incongruity of a mad scientist doing something as mundane as grocery shopping, he heard, "No, it's all in the hips."

Soul nearly stopped walking then and there. But when Spirit stopped in his tracks and got two good handfuls of Stein's collar, begging for an explanation, Soul was too close not to hear.

"Soul's always turned his body toward her, you know. He's a good weapon."

"Protective," supplied Gambit, steadying a few cans Deathscythe had nearly knocked out of one of Stein's bags.

"Exactly. He's _hers_. But she used to just wield him, no giving back. Now, if you watch them standing together, her body is just as turned toward him as he to her. They start from a point of unity and move outward from it." Stein smiled. "Like you and I did."

"Only because I never wanted to turn my back to you!" cried Deathscythe.

Gambit said, "Loyalty's a good family trait, _ami_. She won't leave him."

"Did she get it from her mother, I wonder?" murmured Stein, his smile softening.

Deathscythe dropped Stein and cradled his head in his hands. "My little gi-i-irl."

Gambit put his weight on one hip and snorted. "Buck up, yeah? He's not gonna do anything to her she won't want him to."

"You said he was talking about love bites! Your stupid set-up-"

"That was an entirely unintentional side-effect," said Stein, completely straight-faced. "It was rather her shortcoming for not knowing what it was when she noticed it."

"Yeah, sorry," said Gambit, looking unrepentant. "But I wasn't thinking that far ahead, scout's honor."

Soul sagged against the side of the nearest building. Seriously? They were talking about that out in the street? He watched as Deathscythe collapsed into Stein, soaking a grocery bag with tears. But in the distraction, Gambit turned and looked right at him. The man grinned a wolfish grin, then made a small but effective hand gesture.

Gambit was telling him to get the hell out while he could, and Soul could see no reason not to do exactly as he was ordered.

* * *

"Saw your dad cryin'."

He knew he'd gotten the entrance right when he saw Maka turn her head away and lift her nose.

"Like I care what that guy's doing anyhow," she muttered, then opened one eye to check Soul's reaction.

Soul just grinned. "It was 'cause of Professor Stein. And Mister Gambit."

Maka bit her lip. "What were they doing to him?" This was less curiosity and more of a stockpiling of ammunition.

He shrugged one shoulder carefully, tilting his head. "Talking, looked like. I hightailed it out of there before I could get pulled into it. Or threatened, whichever."

"I talked to Tsubaki," said Maka, turning. Only then could Soul see the plates she had in front of her.

"Are those leftovers? Tsubaki's leftovers?" asked Soul, heading right for them. Maka shifted to get between his fingers and the food, so he grasped at her apron and tugged. "Maka-a."

She smacked his hand. "Yes, and they're still cold! Hold on, you pig."

Soul grunted and went to wash his hands before she could order him toward the sink, hearing the microwave beep behind him.

"Do you want to know what I heard or not?" asked Maka, her tone sharp.

"Hey, wait, it's Wednesday! That's how you got the food?"

"Yeah. Turns out she made too much because, as you found out, Professor Stein wasn't working late tonight." She huffed, tossing her bangs out of her face as she whipped the microwave door open to flip a dumpling. "But Tsubaki makes some things a day early."

Soul frowned, bunching up a dishtowel and tossing it in the corner of the kitchen counter. Maka growled a warning, he grunted, then retrieved the towel and hung it.

"So anyway. Apparently Tsubaki's overheard Mifune talking to Mister Gambit about how he fights. He makes bombs out of anything he touches. I don't mean with a fuse and black powder, I mean just- just, bam." She waved a hand, turning to frown at him. "It's some sort of crazy skill he has, where he can make pebbles like bullets."

Soul frowned. "Can he just wing them really hard or something?"

Maka shook her head. "I dunno. Tsubaki said he showed them, and used a napkin from their dinner. It didn't catch on fire, just exploded in this cloud of paper dust. He didn't even throw it."

The microwave beeped, and Maka handed Soul a plate that was considerably hotter on bottom than the sides. He held it carefully and set it on the counter, grabbing a mouthful. Not even exploding napkins could keep him from Tsubaki's cooking. He chewed as he said, "Black Star heard yet?"

"Tsubaki said she warned him already. He's training to counteract it, apparently," said Maka, shrugging. She poked at the microwave again. "Whatever that means."

"Do you think he could make Black Star explode? Theoretically," he added at the withering look she gave him.

"He's a _teacher_."

"I said theoretically! That just means we won't see on Friday." He wiped a bit of sauce from his lip with the back of his hand.

Maka sighed. "Yeah, well. Black Star doesn't pull anything." She ran the back of her hand over her own cheek. "Tsubaki doesn't know what Mister Gambit's afraid of."

"It's not Black Star," said Soul. He smiled. "A guy who can blow stuff up has a past whether he wants one or not. Especially if he's funny looking."

Maka, to her credit, didn't look away at Soul's own evidence. At least not until the microwave beeped and she pulled out her own food. She pulled the plate out, poked at the food, sighed. "Come sit with me," she said, not looking at him.

Soul followed her out to the sofa, and sat on the cushion she didn't take up. She turned and stared at him, focusing pretty hard, if the lines in her forehead were any indication.

Soul said, "What."

Maka said, "I don't think you look funny at all. Don't forget it."

He had to laugh. "I wasn't worried about myself! Hell, Maka-"

"Don't! Just don't forget it." She glared at him until he stopped laughing, then kicked his thigh for good measure.

"Compared to Professor Stein, he's the normal one anyway," said Soul.

Maka wrinkled her nose. "I don't see what's so funny about him. Aside from the, er. Thing." She made a turning motion with her hand, near her ear.

"Yeah, that thing," said Soul. "Though I don't think anybody picked on him 'cause he's a little on the scary end."

"You're saying you were scared of him?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Only when I thought he was going to cut you up," said Soul honestly, shrugging. The answer came quickly enough that he didn't realize how Maka reacted to it until he'd had another bite and swallowed it.

She was picking at her plate, smiling and looking annoyed at the same time. "You can't let a threat to me scare you-" she began.

"That was then," said Soul, rolling his eyes. "Next time anything crazy charges you, I figure you'll punch it in the face and we'll be cool."

She laughed at him. "I should buy some brass knuckles, huh?"

"I'll work on it," said Soul. He got the singular pleasure of watching Maka snort rice out of her nose. It was worth getting smacked afterward. Maka wasn't hitting as hard as she used to, and he wasn't going to comment. There are some things you didn't need to tell your meister.

* * *

Thursday night, Black Star and Tsubaki invited everyone over. It was just the thing to do before the Big Event, as Black Star had taken to calling it.

"Wait, so what are you gonna do? You aren't gonna bust in are you?" Black Star leaned over the table, his eyebrow raised, his hand clenched.

Soul held up both hands. "No. Hell no!"

Maka sighed. "Look, I'm just gonna _watch_. I can see better if Soul and I are resonating, so I'm warning you now that we don't plan to break in on it at all!"

"Somethin' wrong with your eyes?" asked Black Star, frowning.

"I'll be watching Mister Gambit's soul." She crossed her arms in front of herself.

Kid raised his eyebrows. "What do you think you're going to see?"

Maka shook her head. "I don't know. He behaves like a weapon and a meister at once. Professor Stein said he wasn't a weapon, though. I can't figure it out."

Kid steepled his fingers, leaning forward on his elbows. "I spoke to my father about him." He let out a breath. "He was obtuse as usual. But he did say Mister Gambit is from a very long way away. Professor Stein found him in Antarctica."

Tsubaki, bringing in a tray of soup, nearly faltered badly enough to spill the whole thing. "Antarctica?" She carefully righted the tray and set all of the bowls, still full, down on the table.

"That's right. And it didn't seem as though he'd been living there. He'd been abandoned. He was found without any subzero gear." Kid grimaced, shaking his head. "All that time Professor Stein wasn't in class, he was rehabilitating him. He was nearly dead, and a psychological wreck on top of it."

Soul swallowed thickly. He remembered the way the guy looked. How he'd run from Stein. He wanted to eat his words about Stein being funny looking. "Kinda- kinda guessed."

"Who would abandon him at- at the end of the world?" cried Maka.

"How the hell did Professor Stein find him?" asked Black Star.

Liz huffed. "How did Professor Stein get him to be so _normal_?"

"Um," said Tsubaki. "I think-"

"He's not normal," said Patty, starting to laugh. "He's just as crazy as anybody if he's dating the Professor!"

"Well, he fits in here," agreed Kid, shrugging.

"Ah," said Tsubaki.

Black Star smacked the table. "Sob story or not, I'm still gonna pound him!"

"It wasn't a sob story. He didn't tell any of us!" said Maka, frowning.

"He didn't want us to know," said Soul, looking up at Tsubaki.

She sighed, chewing the side of her lip. "Mister Gambit is a very good actor, I think."

"Father didn't seem to have any compunction about telling me," said Kid, carefully arranging the onions left in the bottom of his bowl. "Sometimes knowing is better than saving face. And none of us are going to spread that rumor around, are we."

As a one, the rest of the table grunted or hummed assent. Kid smiled.

"Tsubaki, this soup is really very delicious," he said. "And nine pieces of onion? Inspired."

She laughed, then, holding her hand over her mouth to stifle just how loud and honest it was. Soul, looking up, saw her squeeze her eyes shut very tightly before she could open them again, but she was still smiling.

"You're welcome, Kid," she said, in that voice that made her sound older and younger at the same time.

"I'm still gonna pound him," said Black Star, frowning down at the dregs of his own soup.

"Uh huh," said Tsubaki, sitting beside him. "No doubt about it."

"Ha!" said Black Star, and punched the air. "That's right! Your samurai boyfriend's next," he added, grinning at Tsubaki.

Maka gasped, but all Tsubaki did was sigh. "Black Star, he's not my boyfriend."

"Yet," he said, pointing his spoon at her.

Finally, Maka was unable to contain herself. "What?"

"Huh? Oh, you haven't noticed? Mifune's got it bad for Tsubaki," said Black Star, grinning.

"And you knew?" asked Soul, feeling mild pain start at the base of his skull.

Black Star fixed him with a withering glare. "Duh, Soul, meisters and weapons are supposed to _communicate_. Geez, you'd think you'd know that by now."

Soul punched him in the shoulder. "What the hell, man, I thought we were bros!"

"Tsubaki's business is Tsubaki's business," said Black Star, shrugging.

"You appear to have conveniently forgotten the bit where you outed her," said Kid dryly. "Though why Soul has any interest in Tsubaki's romantic situation when he's clearly versed in the language of love bites-"

Soul rose to his knees, towering over a very, very silent Maka. He growled at Kid. "You stuffy son of a-"

"Boys," said Tsubaki, "please don't fight. Mifune and I aren't anything special."

"You couldn't be, right? He's going to be a teacher," said Maka softly, as Soul sank down to sit beside her again.

"Chyeah. He's waiting until Tsubaki graduates," said Black Star. "He even came to talk to me about it, since I'm her meister and all." He grinned. "But there's one thing he's forgotten."

Soul wasn't going to be the one to ask it. The glint in Black Star's eye was a dare he didn't want to touch.

Obligingly, Kid said, "What's he forgotten, Black Star."

"When Tsubaki graduates, _so do I_."

* * *

Whatever else had been vague about Black Star's declarations, his assertion that Mifune consulted with him certainly seemed validated on Friday. When he and Gambit lined up at opposite ends of the front stairs of the DWMA, Mifune was behind Black Star, speaking in his ear, one hand on his shoulder.

Soul stood, with at least half of the student body and attendant faculty, in the audience some yards away. Already, he had one index finger slipped inside Maka's glove, his skin against her pulse. It was secret, so nobody without the ability to see souls would notice, at least not overtly, with all of the other power that was about to be thrown around.

Professor Stein, in Gambit's corner, nodded to him, then stepped to the center of the battlefield.

He said, "Black Star, you ready?"

Black Star shouldered Mifune's hand off, lifted his chin, and gave the thumbs-up. And a speech. Soul tuned it out, watching as Mifune stepped backward to stand beside Tsubaki. His eyes flicked to Gambit, who it appeared was waiting patiently, his hands in his pockets.

"Now," said Maka, and he closed his eyes just long enough to find the spark. With the level of focus she needed, resonating was almost easy. Certainly, it felt more natural than it had at any other point outside the classroom. She stepped back against him a little, hiding their contact in her coat. He wondered if she was embarrassed about it, when usually she picked him up like it was nothing.

She didn't look at him, only watched. Stein lifted his hand, then bolted backward as he gave the signal to commence. Immediately, Black Star disappeared in a column of smoke.

Soul had to give Gambit one thing. Guy was fast. If he weren't watching through his soul-bond with Maka, he'd have missed quite a lot of it. As it was, Maka was locked on to their soul-signatures, especially with their expenditure of energy.

It was damnably hard to tell who was winning. Every time Black Star got within striking range, Gambit slipped through his fingers and gave him an explosion in the face for his trouble. It was even harder to tell just what the hell Gambit was blowing up.

Gambit just kept. Running. Darting, weaving, jumping. And blowing Black Star up. At one point, they got close enough for Soul to hear, "Rule three, _ami_, watch your feet."

As Black Star went flying on the crest of another explosion, he realized Gambit was being a teacher and exploding the crap out of Black Star at the same time. It was so cool he started to smile.

Some minutes later, as Black Star lay in a crater, Gambit hopped over him and stood, talking.

Black Star raised a fist and shouted, "Stop running away!"

Gambit looked down at him, smiled, and raised what looked like a playing card. It glowed as he said, "_Non_," and he dropped it onto Black Star's head. Gambit managed to sprint away from the resulting explosion, but Black Star's recovery was much slower.

"Playing cards?" asked Maka, frowning.

Soul said, "Huh. Well, little stuff like that isn't gonna slow Black Star down. He'll bounce back."

After about the second hour, he and Maka had to stop resonating so neither of them collapsed. Still, she leaned rather heavily on him. Most of the other spectators had long gone, and in the fading twilight he was alone with Maka, Stein, Tsubaki, Mifune, and Angela. The little witch had long since fallen asleep in Mifune's arms. Stein had given money to one of the other spectators to go get them dinner, which Tsubaki had split with snacks.

Gambit had even dropped by for a sip of water before dashing away again, Black Star hot on his heels. Stein only laughed.

"How long's it going to last?" asked Maka, sighing.

"Given Black Star's endurance levels, and the amount of energy Gambit's expending, I could start taking bets and give you an answer in the morning," murmured Stein. "Let's talk about your extended resonance instead, shall we?"

"Um," said Soul.

"You're still treating it too much like a fight, Maka," said Stein, his smile turning wry. "You're very violent, you know."

Maka frowned. "What do you mean, Professor."

"I mean that a resonance like the one I meant for you to try isn't about Soul amplifying your power. It's about meeting in the middle, and trading off. Once you've figured that out, the way you were using will seem easier. Outmoded, but easier." He smiled, stubbing out his cigarette.

Gambit, passing by at a jog, said, "He's right!"

"About what?" cried Black Star, hopping off the balcony above.

"But it was pretty cute, the way you were holding hands," said Stein.

Soul could practically see by Maka's blush. Tsubaki, wisely opting not to say a word, just went about adjusting an errant curl that had slipped out from under Angela's hat.

"You guys were holding hands?" cried Black Star, stopping to laugh and getting himself thoroughly thrashed for letting his guard down.

As he lay, smoldering, Gambit stood over him and sighed. "Quit now and I'll let you be the first to enroll in my class."

"Like hell! I'm not a quitter and I don't wanna take your stupid class anyway!"

"Maka and Soul are taking it," said Gambit, shrugging.

Black Star sat up. "Hey! You said I was first!"

Maka said, "We never said we were going to-"

"You weren't?" murmured Stein, starting to grin. "Really, now."

"It's on Wednesday evenings," said Gambit, tucking his hands into his pockets. "You should come. Lesson one won't start until someone in the class can catch me."

"That's gonna be a long class," muttered Soul.

Gambit laughed. Stein said, "That's probably true. Black Star is one of the few students who can track his movements. And that's in daylight."

"It's going to be outside?" asked Soul.

Black Star huffed. "There aren't even chairs outside!"

"It'll start inside," said Gambit, looking down at him.

"Are you going to take it as well, Tsubaki?" asked Mifune softly.

Soul turned to see her answer, which was a quiet smile and, "If Black Star's going to take it."

"Hell," said Soul, "If the first class is about catching him, and you can't beat him until you catch him, you should probably take it."

Black Star mulled this over, then frowned at Gambit. "So does that mean we're putting this throwdown on hold?"

Gambit shrugged. "Sure. Until you get an A in the class."

"Hell yeah! I'll catch you!" said Black Star, flopping back with a grin. "Black Star's the baddest! Ha-ha!"

Maka groaned. "This isn't over, is it? This is just a break."

"All it needs is a halftime show," agreed Soul.

Gambit paused, looked right past Soul, smiled, then lifted a leg and twirled one foot. After the little can-can maneuver, he winked. Simultaneously, Stein started laughing so hard he nearly fell over, and Deathscythe gave away his hiding spot by uttering a wrenching scream.

Deathscythe descended in a torrent of sobs. "My little girl is surrounded by _debauchery_!"

It was, Soul reflected, remarkable how good Gambit was at making Stein laugh and Deathscythe cry. He didn't think cool guys winked, but it was definitely something he'd have to try.


End file.
